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Marius

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Posts posted by Marius

  1. Posted

    16 hours ago, TheMontezuma said:

    Now I can say the same ;-) This is some 'fact' that keeps repeating in the a8 scene, but it is actually not entirely correct 😉

     

    800XE was not targeting Eastern Europe, but Germany. Atari hoped that 800XE will sell thanks to a positive connotation to the 800XL.

    http://www.atari-computermuseum.de/pics/scans/800XE_0787.pdf

     

    800XL was not that popular in Poland, so there was no reason to replace very popular 65XE with 800XE.

     

    As I mentioned, the 800XE was the last 8-bit model and Atari used remaining stocks to manufacture the computers.

    That's why common defective GTIA or keys from various production runs (some are more yellowed than the others).

     

    Most of my 65XE's though have the buggy GTIA. 

     

    What you say is true: the buggy GTIA is in the last produced a8's, but it has nothing to do with 800XE. So more the production DATE is interesting. In USA you can buy PAL 130XE's with also the bugy GTIA. Those are probably 130XE's from 1991 (or 1992?).... I am surprised though that there seem no XEGS with buggy GTIA.

     

    Another thing, not related to GTIA, is that in the 'youngest' XE's there is not a 6520 PIA but an 6821.  

  2. Posted

    6 hours ago, TheMontezuma said:

    It was the end of 8-bit manufacturing, that's why damaged GTIA are very common in 800XE.

    This is some 'fact' that keeps repeating in the a8 scene, but it is actually not entirely correct. The 800XE is around since 1987, and the first 800XE's did not have the defective GTIA's. I have a few of these 'early' 800XE's. 

    Of course you are right that there also do exist a lot 800XE's (and 65XE's) with the buggy GTIA, but those were from the a8 renaissance that happened in Eastern Europe in the early 90's

  3. Posted · Edited by Marius

    1 hour ago, zbyti said:

    I leave my sarcasm away for the moment ;)

     

    I know that discussion with @xxl it's kind of sport, I done that already and it's pointless.

     

    Let him do his job and any of us who can make stuff let do our job and fill the gap in the wall ;)

    Since people don't get any amusement from non-working games, they start funny discussions. And I have to admit: I have the popcorn ready. 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 5

  4. Posted

    1 hour ago, oakcitycomics said:

    Started getting back into Atari 8bit. I recently scored a super clean woodgrain 1980's RCA tv to pair with my 7800 and 800XL.  Been out of the loop on the 8bit computers the past 4/5 years and now I see there are many options for playing games. I see SDrive Max, Side2 Cart, Ultimate, and Uno options. Last time I looked years ago it was just SIO2SD or something along those lines. 

     

    So with so many options its got my head spinning. My goal is to play Cart and Floppy images. I have most of the parts to build the SDrive Max myself just need the LCD screen. But I don't think this will play cart games or will it. 

     

    What should I be investing in to play both cart and floppy 

    Best advice is:

     

    Take a little time before you decide to purchase anything. There are many choices, and almost all have pro and cons. 

     

    There is also a SIDE3 pretty close for release, which has very interesting features. 

     

    It all depends on what you have planned to do. Is it purely to play games, then you'll probably have other demands than when you have plans to do some coding.

     

    I also think (but that is my opinion of course) that this looking for the best solution, and comparing all the possibilities are great parts of the hobby.

     

    Some of the todays solutions appear to be pretty outdated, but even the older solutions are worth looking at. I am still a huge fan of the MyIDE 2 interface. Yes, SIDE3 will be definitely more powerful, but still... it is just a feeling. 

    I also love my Sio2IDE 3.3a built in a cigar box. Extremely outdated Sio2 device, but I love it. It never fails. 

     

     

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    If you want to upgrade the 600XL, don't go for the 256K upgrade. Nobody today should do that, IMHO. Those upgrades are TTL/DRAM based memory upgrades, which are only "reliable" on atari's without anything connected to the parallel bus or cart port. If you want to use a harddrive in the future or some other cool device, those TTL/DRAM based memory upgrades are getting unstable. Better is going for some kind of SRAM based memory upgrades. Those RAM's don't need a stable refresh, so they are much more reliable.

     

    If you are handy yourself, and you would like to to some solder jobs yourself, you might want to look at the 512K SRAM upgrade by Hiassoft. It needs 1 GAL and one SRAM chip. I did a few of those, and they work very well. You need a GAL programmer/burner though to program a GAL for this upgrade.

     

    The only Atari's I really succesfully upgraded with DRAMs are XE's. They have better logic on board for the refresh of DRAMs. But still... even in XE's I prefer SRAM today.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  6. Posted

    54 minutes ago, santosp said:

    Hi Marius,:)

    I not forgotten you! I am in the preparation of third batch. When I have ready devices I will inform you. 

    I have promised that all those who have shown interest in this thread will be notified!

    Thank you so much my friend! Your products are always amazing! I saw the pics and my jaw dropped on the floor.... like: WOW these are stunning! 

    Great news!

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    2 hours ago, MrFish said:

    Additionally, if you look, everything of Fandal's has been voted way down on your site, recently. I just remembered this morning, I had seen this several months ago. Some of these are titles that had good ratings on them for years until that happened. So, it looks like someone might have something against Fandal himself.

     

     

    If this is true, then the person who did this is a real sad and pathetic person. What a world we live in... what world. Sigh.

    • Like 3

  11. Posted

    On 6/10/2020 at 12:55 PM, Larry said:

    I've also read that on some European models, you could not even write to the back side. (?) 

    There is already a lot written in this thread, but let me specify this part. There are XF551's with different mechanism. One of the 'latest' batches of the XF551 had the so called CHINON mechanism. 

     

    It is true that all the XF551's can not format a flippy disk. So where you can flip a disk on a 1050 and format the backside like a normal 1050 format (single side of course), you can not do this on any stock XF551. 

    When you format a B: side of a floppy on a 1050 you can also write on this side using an XF551 when you flip the disk. EXCEPT on the Chinon XF551!

     

    The Chinon mechanism simply can not handle flippy disks, since it uses the index hole for both formatting, reading AND writing. 

     

    The simplest solution for this problem is using floppy disks with two index holes. A few years ago someone offered these disks, so I have a very small stock of 5.25" disks with two index holes. Looks pretty odd, but it worked like a charm. Today I stick with my 1050 with Mini Speedy, so I don't have this problem at all.

     

    Summarized:

    formatting B: side on a flippy disk: impossible on any XF551

    writing on B: side on a flippy disk: XF551 with most mechanisms can do this, except chinon drives.

    reading on B: side on a flippy disk: XF551 with most mechanisms an do this, except chinon drives. 

     

    IIRC most XF551's have a mitsumi brand mechanism. 

     

    Of course, just like @Mathy

    already pointed out, all XF551's can write on both sides of the disk, since it is a two-headed mechanism. So that is why I wrote about 'flippy' disks, since a lot of a8 users (and C64, apple ][ users) are used to flip disks. The main reason by the way Mathy, I do not use double sided format is simply because I do not want to limit myself to XF551 drive. I even have been limited myself to 90K format, because I hate ED, and I wanted to be compatible with all my stock 1050 drives. Today I stick with 180K format, since I have many mini-speedy's, so I am secure enough to use 180K format. 

     

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    2 hours ago, xxl said:

    I am not interested in the popularity of some solutions or the conversation about human impressions to which some here are trying to reduce the conversation.

     

    As I wrote, pointing out the flaws is not politically correct 🙂 Is something I wrote not a fact? Specifically what 🙂

    1. The device is not yet on the market. What you do is pretty unethical. Read again my response about you using the word "some".

     

    2. You take one aspect of AVG and compare that with SIDE3. You enlarge that part and meanwhile you leave out all the good things of side3. That is not pointing out the flaws, that is an unfair way of acting.

     

    3. You seem to make a habit of bashing products that candle was/is involved in. That is a very questionable reputation you built yourself. You can expect people will fight back, due to this. You destroy the reputation of devices, add-ons, upgrades in a way that is unfair and sick. 

     

    4. The a8 community is served by people like @flashjazzcat and @candle. Sure you are free to like or dislike these people. But your crusade against them or their product is sad and pathetic. Your way of acting does not fit a community where people try to keep the a8 alive. Stop all the bashing and the hate and make a choice: appreciate it, or cooperate. You could offer your help to test stuff or make things better in stead of grabbing a microscope and look for flaws.

     

     

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 2

  14. Posted

    21 hours ago, xxl said:

    can every ATR be loaded from SIDE3? or only some, as it was with SIDE2?

    AVG loads them all.

    Could be a language thing but it is clear to me that you have to check the meaning of the word "some" again. The way you write it down now, is completely fake news. Side2 runs with U1MB almost all ATR's. There are some exceptions yes, but framing the compatibility with the word "some" is false and also disrespectful. 

  15. Posted

    2 hours ago, xxl said:

    so it doesn't work. Neither IRQ nor pooling procedures are working. Anyone else have doubts which cards are better?

    Case closed.

    Pointless and completely irrelevant comparison. First of all is there much more than a (virtual) compatibility rate to decide which card is better. My blackbox is the only device (apart from my turbo freezer) that can break into a running program, so that is the best alternative? Think again.

     

    Nothing beats the fabulous and intuitive user interface in FJC loader. That is what counts for me. You might think differently, but you can not decide for other people whether a case is closed or not. 

     

    And even when Side3 would run 100% of the software I am pretty sure you will write some code not following any standard so it will crash on side3, like you also did on U1MB. 

     

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  16. Posted

    Omg I did not check this topic for a day and in no time this derails into another shitty thread.

     

    It is unbelievable how one person tries to pull SIDE or Flashjazzcat's work into bad light. We also saw this happening around U1MB.

     

    You can always prefer to use another cart solution like AVG which is amazing of course. But discussions like seen in this thread are pointless and also dangerous.  Come on... candle and FJC put hundreds if not thousands of hours of development in SIDE 3. Both guys are known for their dedication and quality products and software. I am very interested in SIDE3.

     

    I also love MyIDE2 and although meanwhile this device is no longer the most versatile or first choice HD interface I think it deserves a lot of respect.

     

    So all the poisonous, negative and pointless discussion should stop right here.

    • Like 5

  17. Posted

    18 minutes ago, Larry said:

    As I see it, the Side3 has a lot of very nice features, but added by greatly increasing the complexity of usage with multiple menus and key strokes. Some folks won't mind that at all; some will.  (Aside -- think about the original intent of the Atari Home Computers -- easy to use, etc.  What have we done?  Yes, that's "progress" I guess.)

    Did you ever use the FJC version of the SIDE loader? Never seen a more intuitive piece of code on a8. It is excellent and very easy to use. It fits the "It just works" ideology and next to that it is versatile, fast and extremely compatible.

     

    It is 1000 times better than the original SIDE loader or any other Fat32 loader for other devices. It looks amazing and it handles directories with hundreds of files like it is nothing. The search feature is a killer feature as well.

     

    I never read any doc or manual and the SIDE loader by FJC is powerful and easy to use from day 1. No hidden features, no weird key combinations... it is the best since the invention of sliced bread.

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  19. Posted

    I am still a huge fan of this incredible device. Even with it's "flaws" compared to the newer SIO based diskdrive 'emulators' this Abbuc-Raf Sio2USB is my #1 choice. Great stuff.

     

    There is one feature though I would love to see and that is this:

    Since YASH is now able to boot XEX files, would it also be possible to mount the XEX file to one of the Dx: 's and mimic a disk where that XEX file is on. This would make transfer from Usb Stick to an Atari HD much easier. 

     

    Just the way SIO2SD does this. When I boot an XEX file from the SIO2SD config tool, the XEX is mounted to a diskno. and I could type DIR on that diskno and then I see some kind of Dos 2.x disk format where the XEX is the single file on. Pretty cool (and also nice if it works for other file formats like TXT, or MID, or whatever).

     

  21. Posted

    16 hours ago, FifthPlayer said:

    Stuff like sprite flicker because of multiplexing hardware sprites, or soft-sprite character cell cutouts, I have no issue.  But one game showed random electronic garbage on the screen when the player went from one screen to the next because the game didn't manage the display list properly.  Another had stutters and hiccups in the background music because the author was lazy and disabled the vertical blank interrupt at certain times, which also disabled the music player.  These issues were bugs plain and simple.  Programming experts here gave the author simple ways to solve these fit-and-finish issues and he refused to do so.  

     

    And programming glitches like those are still OK if it's a homebrew game you're giving away, but if you're putting it on a cartridge, claiming it's profressionally made, and asking $40 for it, for me that's a non-starter.

    This is 100% the problem. And it is a pity, since almost every title they create has serious potential to be great. I am not sure of course, but to have your stuff tested well you need other people, and more important: you have to trust other people. If you main problem is that you can not trust other people, you can not let anyone else into your project, you do not dare to share your games with beta testers who test your game on real hardware (both PAL and NTSC) ... well then you have to do it all by yourself. And when you are the designer/coder you'll always have your share of blind spots, so while you think everything works great, a real beta tester will force the game into flaws or worse.

     

    For me it is simple: I will never buy any V61 title ever again as long as it is this buggy on cart only. 

    There are so many other and much better titles. Most of the time even free, or much cheaper.  So why even bother?

    • Like 5

  22. Posted

    On 7/7/2020 at 7:00 PM, skr said:

    Xtreem was the first one and plays very well. I bought the cart years ago and still play it a lot.

     

    Elite is kind of a successor. As far as I remember, there were graphical improvements announced. I think it was planned to have VBXE support, not sure. Also there is improved controller support, should work very nice with Paddles and Driving controller. But I never bought it, so I can´t say for sure.

     

    So you never noticed the bug in the bonus game? There is definitely something going on with the extra lives. If you cross the extra lives border it does not always add an extra life when you completed the bonus round. Sometimes it is even worse, without dying you still lose lives after coming out of the bonus screen. When you are having enough lives left this is not really a big problem, but there are moments you are low on lives, and then it sucks. 

     

    I played Tempst Xtreem a lot too, and indeed when you ignore this bug it is indeed one of the cooler games from V61. The fact that my 2nd version had this bug that I couldn't even play the bonus game, was terrible. 

    • Like 2

  23. Posted

    On 7/5/2020 at 3:39 AM, _The Doctor__ said:

    Tempest has to a fixed up by now(it's been around for a long time), like I said... you'd have to talk with them a bit to make sure about any of it.

    No. I bought the first version of Tempest Xtreem when it came out. I enjoyed the game, but I hated the stupid bug in the bonus round. I gave my cart away, and later I decided to buy it again (!). So yes indeed I bought myself TWO copies of Tempest Xtreem. The second one I bought came on an AtariMax cart. The first one (if I remember correctly) on a 256kb MegaCart or something like that. Anyway, the second version (on the AtariMax cart) had an even bigger bug: the bonus game did not show any player/missiles. 

     

    I was able to fix that myself by tweaking the code a little. But sigh the first bug (in the bonus round) was still there.

     

    I offered my help to beta test the games in the past. I had to sign some kind of agreement, and before we were ready to do so some of the guys in the team shouted a big NO to me. 

    Well, I am not soon proud of anything, but there is one thing I am very good at: breaking stuff. If you want a good beta-tester... ask me. I can seriously find 99% of the bugs, and probably 100% of all the daily-use-flaws. If the author of the game, or Lance had me on their beta test team those stupid bugs that exist now in those games, wouldn't exist.

     

    In the past I did some betatesting for @flashjazzcat ... well that was fun, and a person who can appreciate a good bug report :D

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    On 7/5/2020 at 3:30 AM, _The Doctor__ said:

    @TapperP

    Ironically, they will enforce their will and demand that it never leave a cartridge for any reason... lots of threads are full of all sorts of arguments and threats of litigation...  I'm of the opinion everyone has the games anyway, but would never speak of it. I personally purchased a few things before all this kind of crap came to light... then I gave away all the carts I had, I felt on principle I didn't want stuff from people like that in any form. To be honest the build quality was poor, one of my carts fell apart, and the stuff is like photocopied paperwork... Some of it was just buggy. Just not my cup of tea.

     

    Unfortunately I can agree with this. The games do contain all kind of bugs. It's a pity, some of them could have been pretty good conversions though. The conversion do most certainly have potential. I was one of the person that asked several times for download-version of the games, but with no effect. I had 3 (in my opinion good) reasons for download-versions of the game:

    1. You can easily fix bugs, which is much harder with ROMS. You'd say: use flashroms, which V61 did, but still they did not want to send an update, so they treated it as a non flash rom.

    2. I do not need all the hardware that is in a cart. I would put the purchased ROM file to a multi cart and that's it. When I purchase a cart I do that as well, so no need for all the extra hardware from a cart.

     

    3. Shipping. With a download version people could save money (and time) on shipping.

     

    People responded that V61 and other people have the right to do their business the way they want to do their business. And that is true and everybody has to accept that. But for me that is then the end of story. Especially since the games are proven buggy, I would no one advise to buy any game ever from V61 as long as they use a non-fixable format (a cart). 

     

    Venture and Tempest Xtreem could be really great games though. So I still keep my fingers crossed for good bugfixes.

     

     

  25. Posted

    8 hours ago, jgrass said:

     even with the touch of sarcasm!  😀

    There was no sarcasm in my post. I love XDOS and use it a lot. I am honestly happy that there still do exist people in a8 land who use and develop non-SDX stuff.

     

    I also have experienced that large partitions on an atari 8bit computer is not always a benefit. Especially when you are into coding and not the best coder (like me). I have corrupted so many important partitions in the past, that I decided eventually to do coding only on disk based atari. Well the XDOS appears to be a great dos for that.

     

    So seriously no sarcasm here. And really good to read that your and my a8 history do have some similarities.

     

    I am not going to return those rt8 clones. I also purchased them to support the creator. My solution with the apetime clone works for me.

    • Thanks 1
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